Subject: Hayao Miyazaki Biography, Revision 2 (6/24/94)
HAYAO MIYAZAKI BIOGRAPHY, Revision 2 (6/24/94)
Hayao Miyazaki's father, Katsuji Miyazaki, was born in 1915 (?) and
died on March 18, 1993. During WWII, he was the director of Miyazaki
Airplane, which was owned by his brother (Hayao's uncle). This company
made the rudders for Zero fighter planes. Hayao's mother was a strict,
intellectual woman. Her youngest son, Shirou, once commented that Dola
in LAPUTA reminded him of her, not by her outlook, but by her mentality.
Arata Miyazaki (Hayao's only older brother) was born in July 1939.
Hayao Miyazaki was born on January 5, 1941 in Akebono-cho (town),
Bunkyo-ku (district), Tokyo.
Yutaka Miyazaki was born in January 1944.
Hayao's third brother is Shirou (birthdate unknown).
Between 1944 and 1946, the Miyazaki family evacuated to Utsunomiya
City and Kanuma City in Tochigi Prefecture. The Miyazaki Airplanes
factory was in Kanuma City.
From 1947 to 1952, the young Hayao went to three different grade
schools. First, he attended first through third grades at a school in
Utsunomiya City. Next, he spent the fourth grade at Omiya Elementary
School in Suginami-ku, Tokyo, when his family moved back to Suginami-ku.
Hayao switched to the brand-new Eifuku Elementary School, which was a new
branch of the Suginami-ku school, for the fifth grade.
From 1947 to 1955, Hayao's mother was sick in bed with spinal
tuberculosis (a total of nine years!). She spent the first few of these
years in the hospital. MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is, in many ways, an homage to
this ordeal. In fact, several critics regarded this anime highly as an
"I story" (autobiographical story).
Between 1953 and 1955, Hayao graduated from Eifuku Elementary and
attended Omiya Junior High.
Between 1956 and 1958, Hayao graduated from Omiya Junior High and
went on to Toyotama High, a public senior high school. In his third
year, he sees the first-ever Japanese feature-length color anime, HAKUJA
DEN (Directed by Yabushita Taiji for Toei Douga in 1958), and becomes
interested in animation. Hayao decides he wants to become a comic artist
but--having previously drawn only planes and battleships--finds he can't
draw people.
From 1959 to 1962, Hayao graduated from Toyotama High and entered
Gakushuin University. There, he majors in economics (with his final
thesis being on the theory of Japanese industry), and joins the school's
"children's literature research club," which was the closest thing to a
comics club in those days.
In 1963, Hayao graduated from Gakushuin University with degrees in
Political Science and Economics. He lands a job at Toei Douga (Toei
Animation) in April. There, he is trained for three months, and becomes
an in-betweener. His first assignment is the feature, WATCHDOG BOW WOW,
after which he is moved to Toei's first TV series, WOLF BOY KEN. Hayao
lived in an apartment in nearby Nerima-ku (in Tokyo) which cost 6,000 yen
a month to rent (his monthly salary was 19,500 yen), and yet, soon after
entering Toei Douga, there was a union dispute, and Hayao led the
demonstrating animators!
In 1964, Hayao was the Chief Secretary of Toei Douga's labor union
(Isao Takahata was the Vice-Chairman), and began to date fellow animator
Akemi Ota.
In the fall of 1965, Hayao began to volunteer help to Takahata once
Takahata joins the production team on PRINCE OF THE SUN. Thinking that
this might be his last chance to work on a feature film before TV takes
over, Hayao makes a pact with Takahata (the film's director) and Yasuo
Otsuka (the film's animation director) to take as long as it takes to
finish PRINCE OF THE SUN together. Hayao marries Akemi Ota (who worked
as a key animator on PRINCE OF THE SUN) in October. The newlyweds move
to Higashi-Murayama City, in Tokyo.
PRINCE OF THE SUN was finally released in 1968. Also that year,
Akemi worked on PUSS IN BOOTS, a feature on which Hayao was a key
animator.
Hayao and Akime Miyazaki's first son was born in January of 1967.
In 1969, Akemi contributed to THE FLYING GHOST SHIP, another feature
for which Hayao was a key animator.
Their second son was born in April of 1969, whereupon the Miyazakis
moved to Oizumi-Gekuen, Nerima-ku, Tokyo. This second son eventually
went to Sinshu University to study forestry (or was it dendrology?).
In 1970, the Miyazakis moved to Tokorozawa City, in Saitama
Prefecture.
In 1971, Hayao left Toei Douga and joined Takahata and Yoichi Otabe
at A-Pro. Hayao traveled to Sweden with Tokyo Movie president Yutaka
Fujioka in order to secure the rights to PIPPI LONGSTOCKINGS, but their
attempt failed.
In June of 1973, the Miyazaki/Takahata/Otabe team quit A-Pro and
joined Zuiyo Pictures. In July, Hayao went on location to Switzerland
for inspiration as scene designer and scene organizer on HEIDI: GIRL OF
THE ALPS.
In 1975, Hayao again went on location--this time, to Italy and
Argentina--to prepare for THREE THOUSAND MILES IN SEARCH OF MOTHER.
1980 saw Hayao as chief instructor for new animators at Telecom. It
is here that he uses his company's name as a pseudonym while directing
episodes 145 & 155 of the then-current LUPIN III TV series.
The NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND anime got under way in 1983.
In May, Takahata became the film's producer, and Topcraft was chosen as
the production studio. Hayao's youngest brother Shirou worked at
Hakuhoudo (the second largest advertisement agency in Japan), so it is
perhaps not surprising that NAUSICAA was made as a joint venture between
Tokuma and Hakuhoudo. In July, Hayao's mother died. She was 71. Hands-
on work on the NAUSICAA anime began the following month.
In April of 1984, Miyazaki and Takahata's Nibariki (Two-Horse Power)
office was created in Suginami-ku, Tokyo. Miyazaki is the senior
partner.
In 1985, Studio Ghibli was founded in Kichijoji, in Musashino City
to produce LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY. (Topcraft Studio's production
manager, Toru Hara, became the manager of Studio Ghibli.) In May, Hayao
went on location to Wales to prepare for this new anime.
[Thanks to ANIMAG #9, Atsushi Fukumoto, and Troma's TOTORO presskit]
-- Steven Feldman
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